A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New MexicanMay 31, 2013
This year is not even half-cooked yet, so it’s much too early to be declaring an album of the year. But from my very first listen, I knew in my heart that Floating Coffin, the latest CD by Thee Oh Sees,would place high in my annual Top 10 list. Heck, I might have even realized that by the end of the first song, the blaring rocker “I Come From the Mountain,” with its rubbery guitar breaks.

This is a San Francisco group that’s been around in one form or another for a decade or so (including a brief period when it used “The” instead of the garage-rock signifier “Thee”). Starting out as a side project for singer and guitarist John Dwyer, who sometimes used Orinoka Crash Suite as a band name on a few of his recordings, Thee Oh Sees evolved into Dwyer’s main musical concern.

While Dwyer is clearly the frontman, keyboard player Brigid Dawson also sings — and on Floating Coffin, she’s handling a bigger share of the vocal duties. This is a good thing.

Although Thee Oh Sees is considered a garage band, that’s just one side of it. You could consider it a psychedelic band as well, but that certainly doesn’t cover it. Sometimes the group’s music reminds me of the sprawling noise rock of Yo La Tengo.

I also hear echoes of New Wave in Thee Oh Sees’ sound. Had the group been around in 1984 or so, it would have fit in perfectly on a bill with the Talking Heads. It’s too melodic to be considered punk by most conventional definitions, and it’s too weird to be termed pop.

Every album I’ve heard by Thee Oh Sees is different from the last. For instance, I was disappointed in the group’s previous effort, Putrifiers II, which was released last September. Despite punchy rockers like “Lupine Dominus,” Putrifiers had too many slow dreamy numbers for my taste.

The group is so prolific that’s it’s pretty safe to say that if you don’t like one album you just have to wait a minute.

Floating Coffin is a rocker. Most of the songs have happy, catchy melodies that make you want to sing along.

However, just below the surface there seems to be something sinister lurking. Just look at the cover. There’s a bunch of ripe red strawberries — delicious looking, except for vampire teeth and eyeballs peering out. Dwyer has said, “These songs occur in the mind-set of a world that’s perpetually war-ridden. Overall, it’s pretty dark.”

Thee Oh Sees when I saw them in Austin last year

Take the song “Sweets Helicopter” (which features a sizzling Joe Meeks-style organ solo by Dawson). Unless you really listen closely, you might not hear the lyrics, which seem to tell the story of a pilot dropping death on people below. “I look down to see them looking up.”

Even more jolting is “Tunnel Time,” in which Dwyer sings, “I’ve been cleaning up bodies/They all look the same to me,” followed by a mocking chorus of “Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.”

And then there’s “Toe Cutter — Thumb Buster,” with its tortured guitar introduction that Neil Young might appreciate and its happy little melody and easygoing tempo.

To be honest, as with many Thee Oh Sees songs, I can’t really make out the lyrics (this is one of the few faults of this band). The song’s official video tells a story of a serial killer putting a body in the back of his vehicle. He keeps having to kill witnesses who stumble on his crime scenes. It’s funny in a black-humor, Dexter sort of way.

One of the only mellow songs here is the viola-driven closer, “Minotaur.” It’s the best tune about the mythological creature since The Incredible String Band’s song from 1968’s The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter. There’s also a fairly gory video for this one (there’s always plenty of blood spatter in those spooky old myths) starring members of the band. They didn’t go broke on the costumes for this video, but it does enhance the song.

So yes, this is my favorite album of the year so far. Maybe another one will come along and knock it off its top position — it may even be by Thee Oh Sees.

Monday, May 27, 2013

I'm not sure how I missed this when it first was unleashed a few weeks ago, but Adult Swim — the irreverent cartoon and comedy programming that takes over The Cartoon Network after most the kiddies are in bed — released a free album of new tunes.

Most of it is pretty good and a few of the 15 tunes are downright bitchen.

I guess it’s not that surprising that the warped minds behind Adult Swim also would be fond of crazy garage-punk music. But it is pretty amazing that they persuaded their corporate masters, and a sponsor, Dr. Pepper ("the friendly pepper-upper"), to go along with this project involving music that's basically unknown to the masses.

Garage Swim features some of the “stars” (I’m being very relative here) of genre, as well as many I'd never heard of.

Thee Oh Sees. The Black Lips and Bass Drum of Death are here, as is King Khan, who appears on two selections.

But most exciting is that there’s a new song by The Gories. Although they’ve done a few “reunion” tours in recent years, playing their old stuff, “On the Run” from Garage Swim doesn’t appear on any of their ’90s catalogue.

You can find and download this album HERE.
And below is that Gories song.

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New MexicanMay 24, 2013
Most fans of Joe “King” Carrascofirst got to know his music through his band The Crowns. Dubbing their sound Nuevo Wavo, Joe “King” Carrasco & The Crowns got a lot of attention in the early ’80s — Saturday Night Live, MTV, etc.

But before there were The Crowns, there was El Molino, a band Carrasco founded in the mid-1970s. El Molino, at least most of the time, didn’t have that frantic hopped-up beat that characterized The Crowns.

Made up primarily of old Doug Sahm sidemen, including San Antonio sax star Rocky Morales, the band was more down-to-earth than The Crowns, with a sound you might hear in some barrio bar in San Antonio, bringing a Tex-Mex feel to R & B, soul, blues, greasy ’50s ballads, and ’60s garage rock.

And now, after 35 years or so, Carrasco, with a reconstituted El Molino, is back with a new album, Tlaquepaque.

Following last year’s reunion of the original Crowns — they recorded a fun album calledQue Wow and went on tour, with a great free show at the Plaza bandstand last year — Carrasco went back to the studio with original Molino members Speedy Sparks (bass) and Ernie “Murph” Durawa (drums). According to Carrasco’s website, the idea was just to record a couple of songs, including one for a benefit Christmas album for the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians (a novelty tune called “Tamale Christmas”).

However, the collaboration of the old compadres led to a bigger project. Many of the original members of El Molino have gone up to that great cantina in the sky, and a bunch of fine Texas musicians dropped into the studio to help out.

These included guitarists John X Reed and Jesse Dayton (a honky-tonk hero in his own right), sax man Joe Morales (no relation to Rocky, who died in 2006), and Texas keyboard deity Augie Meyers, whose distinct electric-organ sound helped create the sound of the Sir Douglas Quintet and the Texas Tornados. Meyers reportedly did a brief stint with the original El Molino.

For fans of the Crowns’ manic sound, hearing this somewhat more laid-back Carrasco shouldn’t be much of an adjustment. The opening track, the title song, sounds like The Crowns with a sweet saxophone added. There’s even a new all Mexed-up version of Carrasco’s signature song “Buena” here.

Carrasco in Santa Fe last year

Showcasing this band’s diverse influences are “I Saw My Baby,” which answers the question “What would `Who’s Been Talkin’” have sounded like had Howlin’ Wolf been born in San Antonio?”; “Make Believe Kisses,” which has a country-western feel; “Ayudame Lupe,” with its pronounced debt to Chuck Berry; “Tell Me,” which features echoes of New Orleans; and the smoldering cumbia “Mas Mas,” which should make Los Lobos jealous.

Right now I have two favorites on this album. There’s the ’50s-soaked slow dance “Anna.” No, it’s not the Arthur Alexander classic of the same title, but the two songs would sound great side by side. The absolute best song on Tlaquepaque is the ranchero-flavored “Donna, Do Ya Wanna.” There is a guitar riff very similar to that on Eddie Dimas’ “El Mosquito,” and the refrain, “Donna, Donna, Donna, Donna, do ya wanna?” reminds me of Frank Zappa’s conversation with Flora and Fauna in “Dinah-Moe Humm.”

I don’t think Carrasco, who has lived in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, for a decade or two, will be touring anytime soon with the reconstituted El Molino. So it’s good to have this document of this worthwhile band.

Also recommended:

* Cookin’ Up a Party by King Salami & the Cumberland Three. Here’s another “king” who specializes in good-time rock ’n’ roll with heavy old-school R & B overtones. King Salami — who reportedly once went by the name “Prince Chipolata” — and his Cumberlands continue as one of the best party bands to come out of the British Isles in who knows how long.

This is the group’s second full-length album, following 2010’s Fourteen Blazin’ Bangers! They cook up 14 more blazin’ bangers on this year’s outing. And every dang one of them is a moneymaker-shaker.

“Monkey Beat” features crazy bongos; “Yosemite Sam” is a spirited tribute to the original Red Headed Stranger; “It’s All Your Fault” sounds like a lost Jimmy Reed song; “She’s a Kukamunga” is a wild take on an old Louie Prima tune; and “Howlin’ for My Woman” could wear you out just listening to it.

Salami continues his fascination with politically incorrect (but fun) faux American-Indian surfy instrumentals in the tradition of The Shadows’ “Apache.” He’s previously done “Uprising” and “Pawnee Stomp,” full of pseudo Native chants and war whoops. On this album it’s “Big Chief,” an original instrumental.

Now here’s a mystery to ponder. The band’s always been called the Cumberland Three, but the album cover clearly shows four guys beside King Salami. Who’s going under a flaming limbo bar? As the late Jonathan Winters might have said, “Where’s the other two?”

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

The Cowgirl BBQ -- which I still call the Cowgirl Hall of Fame -- was planning to have its 20th Anniversary Party on June 1.
However, with the recent tornado tragedy in Moore, Okla., the restaurant decided to turn the event into an all-day benefit for the tornado victims. The Cowgirl owners will donate 10% of the day’s receipts to the American Red Cross for their relief efforts in the Sooner State.

The show starts at noon and ends at midnight. The afternoon/early evening festivities will be in the back parking lot, while the evening concert will be on the Cowgirl's patio. There's no cover charge.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

This weekend at the New Mexico Music Awards, they paid tribute to the late singer/picker Lewie Wickham -- who died last month -- by playing a biographical video written and directed by Thom Eberhardt and produced by Christine Vasquez.

I didn't know him personally, but back in the early '70s I used to go see Lewie with his brother Hank all the time in Albuquerque. I still remember their songs like "Family Picnic," "Them Old Chile Fields Back Home" and "Little Bit Late." Lewie in many ways reminded me of my hero Roger Miller.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

I was in Austin, Texas last week. When I arrived in town the only show I knew for certain I'd been going to was Purple Stickpin -- a band led by the infamous T. Tex Edwards and which includes my pal from Santa Fe, Tom Trusnovic. The show was in San Antonio, some 80 miles south of Austin, but I'd been wanting to see this band for some time.

However, due to circumstances beyond their control, Purple Stickpin got bumped. Tom called me when I was about halfway there. Oh well ... I heard a couple of other bands in Austin that night, but nothing really notable.

The Sons of Hercules

However, I got my fix of crazy Texas garage/punk sounds the next night with a dangerous bill at the Continental Club.

Headlining was The Sons of Hercules, a San Antonio band led by singer Frank Pugliese, who, like T. Tex, has been a Lone Star punk-rock fixture since the 1970s.

In fact, one of Pugliese's claims to fame is that he was in a band called The Vamps that opened for The Sex Pistols in San Antonio during their doom-ladened 1978 American tour.

But that's ancient history. Like his hero (and major influence) Iggy Pop, Pugliese, now in his 60s, has more wild energy than rockers half his age and has incredible charisma for a guy with a mug that reminds me of Shemp Howard.

Some of that comes through in this video, shot at the Continental Club about a year ago.

Also playing at the Continental that night was The Ugly Beats, whose guitar and electric organ-driven sound is nothing short of infectuous.

Though the Nuggets-era garage sound is their backbone, The Ugly Beats also veer off into Byrdsy folk-rock now and them. They did a a surprisingly good cover of "If I Were a Carpenter" at the Continental.

That night, May 11, was The Ugly Beats' 10th anniversary as a band. Indeed there was a celebratory atmosphere that night.

Here's a video, also from a Continental Club gig, from three years ago.

I thought that the opening band, The Go Wows, sounded familiar when I heard their first few songs.

Then I realized, I'd heard this group before -- at least the singer -- but in a previous band, The Texreys, who I'd met through The Garage-Punk Hideout. They sent me their CD Cave Girl, which I've played on Sound World as well as The Big Enchilada podcast.

And of course no trip to Austin is complete without a night at the Broken Spoke, the classic honky tonk on South Lamar.

Last Thursday I caught a couple of sets by Jesse Dayton. He did several tunes by the late George Jones, an obvious influence on Dayton, including "He Stopped Loving Her Today" and more obscure numbers like "Ya Ba Da Ba Do (So Are You)."

I was hoping that that Dayton would do some Captain Clegg & The Night Creatures songs, which sprang from a strange collaboration with Rob Zombie.

But near the end of the night, he did do "I'm Home Getting Hammered While She's Out Getting Nailed" from another Zombie project, Banjo & Sullivan: The Ultimate Collection. Here's a video of that song.

Friday, May 10, 2013

Friday, May 10, 2013 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Kit Kat Clock by The Bottle Rockets
That's How it Goes by The Meat Puppets
Do Right by Lydia Loveless
Let's Elope, Baby by Kelli Jones-Savoy
Bad News by Whitey Morgan & The 78s
I Ain't Got Nobody by Don Walser & Asleep at the Wheel
Let the Jukebox Keep on Playing by Carl Perkins
High, Low and Lonesome by The Dinosaur Truckers
Pete, the Best Coon Dog In The State Of Tennessee by Jimmy Martin

Under the Jail by Mose McCormack
Meat Man by DM Bob & The Deficits
Here Comes My Ball and Chain Again by Cornell Hurd
Baby. Buggy Boogie by The Milo Twins
Brain Cloudy Blues by Bob Wills & The Texas Playboys
It's Nothing to Me by Sanford Clark
Oh You Pretty Woman by Milton Brown & His Musical Brownies
Collegiana by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
How Far Down Can I Go by T. Tex Edwards & The Swingin' Kornklake Killers
Whoa Sailor by Hank Thompson

Frogs by The Handsome Fmily
Big Black Cat by R.D. Hendon & The Western Jamboree Cowboys
Take This Hammer by The Howlin' Brothers
Whole Lotta Things by Southern Culture on the Skids
I Spent All My Money by Shannon McNally
Can't Go to Heaven by The Dirt Daubers
Song of Lime Juice and Despair by Shineyribs
The Marching Hippies by Guy Drake
Change Them Gears by Hasil Adkins
Serafino by The Goddamn Gallows

Blood Red Velvet by Joe West & The Santa Fe Revue
I Miss Mississippi by Rayburn Anthony
Designated Lover by Country Blues Revue
Stranger in the House by Elvis Costello
I'm Not Ready Yet by George Jones
Apartment #9 by Tammy Wynette
Ramblin' Man by Hank Williams
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

Thursday, May 09, 2013

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New MexicanMay 10, 2013

One of the most remarkable rock ’n’ roll comeback stories in recent years is that of James Williamson, who was best known — really, only known — as the guitarist for Iggy & The Stoogeson Raw Power, their last studio album to be released (in 1973) before the group broke up. A few years later, Williamson quit the music industry altogether, went to college, and started a career in Silicon Valley, retiring a couple of years ago as a vice president of technology standards for Sony Electronics.

But in 2010, Williamson rejoined The Stooges for the first time since the Metallic K.O. days, and now, on Ready to Die, Williamson and Iggy are creating new music together. The two co-wrote every song on the album.

It’s the first Stooges studio album with Williamson since Raw Power. But on an unhappier note, it’s the first Stooges album ever without guitarist Ron Asheton, who died in 2009.

This is the second album by the reconstituted 21st-century Stooges. The first was 2007’s The Weirdness, in which the brothers Asheton — Ron and drummer Scott — reunited with Iggy, with Mike Watt (the Minutemen, Firehose) on bass. The critical consensus was that the album was a disaster and a disgrace to the Stooge legacy. Personally, I didn’t think it was that bad. Heck, it was a lot better that the latest album by the re-formed New York Dolls.

But Ready to Die is surprisingly good. Young whippersnappers might smirk that it's old-man rock. Well, it’s true. The band clearly was acknowledging this fact with a defiant chuckle in choosing the title for this record. The truth is, these are old men who can rock. And the image of a stern, shirtless Iggy on the cover wearing a suicide belt of explosives suggests these are geezers with attitude.

Maybe the music here isn’t blazing new trails like the original Stooges did in the late ’60s and early ’70s. But, with drummer Asheton and bassist Watt providing an invincible rhythm section and old Stooge sax man Steve Mackay back in the fold, this band frightens most younger competitors.

The Stooges come out of the chute like a crazy rodeo bull on the opening track “Burn.” This is followed by the equally scorching “Sex & Money,” (“A darkness is on my mind/When reason is going blind … I’m looking for a reason to live/ When I’ve only got but two things to give,” Iggy growls.” This is followed by a couple of reckless rockers in which the lyrics look outward at contemporary society. “Job” is about underemployment (“I’ve got a job but it don’t pay [excrement]/ I’ve got a job but I’m sick of it,’ Iggy spits.

Then on ‘“Gun,” Iggy sings “If I had a fucking gun, I could shoot at everyone.” As the song progresses, Iggy takes aim at “Stand your Ground” laws and the place of guns in the American psyche: “Yeah, we killed the Indians … Watch out for the Mexicans … Now it’s time to duke it out, nuke it out, and black it out …”

Later in the album, there is “Dirty Deal,” a cold-eyed indictment of con men in the music industry. (“The system’s rigged to favor crooks/You won’t find that in civics books.” Iggy snarls.) But don’t worry. It’s not all grim politics here, as Iggy and crew prove on “DD’s,” a lusty ode to top-heavy women. It’s shamelessly dumb, but it’s the most lighthearted song on the album.

Not all the songs are crunching rockers. There are three tunes where The Stooges slow it down and pretty it up. Something tells me I’ll tend to push the skip button on these in the future.

However, the final cut is more than worthwhile. “The Departed” is a sad eulogy for Asheton. As part of the tribute, the song starts and ends with acoustic versions of Ron’s famous “Now I Wanna Be Your Dog” guitar riff. The song is a sober look at the rock ‘n’ roll life: “The life of the party’s gone/The guests who still remain/Know they’ve stayed a little too long/Party girls will soon get old/Party boys will lie/Both the sexes soon grow cold.”

There’s truth in these words. But despite their advancing years, I just can’t look at Iggy & the Stooges as guests who have stayed too long.

Also noted:* TV Smashing Concert, July 23, 1970 by Figures of Light. I never like to quote record companies hyping their own products. But I have to make an exception here, because Miriam Linna of Norton Records hit the nail on the head. According to the band’s bio on Amazon.com, she told the band this LP “makes Metal Machine Music sound like Mantovani.”

Of course, she meant that in the nicest possible way. Meanwhile, the blurb for this record on Norton’s website says “be aware that the vocals are buried in the original mix.” Actually it sounds more like the vocals were cremated. I mean that nicely also.

Who is this band? Quick recap: They came from New York City, influenced by The Velvet Underground and other pre-punk, post-garage acts of that era. At their first concert in 1970, the group destroyed 15 television sets onstage at Rutgers University.

They broke up soon after that, went their separate ways, and the Figures were just a flicker of a memory until the Norton Records crew discovered an ancient 45 of FOL’s only single, “It’s Lame,” and persuaded singer Wheeler Winston Dixon and guitarist Michael Downey to reunite and get back in the studio.

No, the fi ain’t hi on this live album, and I staunchly believe that any potential new converts to the Figures cult should start out with their previous albums, 2008’sSmash Hits, which includes old material from the ’70s, live stuff, and songs recorded in the studio shortly its release, and the excellent follow-up, 2012’sDrop Dead.

But TV Smashing Concert —the group’s complete debut show, all 26 minutes or so — will have a damn-I wish-I’d-have-been-there effect on those who already are fans of the Figures. At least it did on me.

The album is available only in a limited edition of 300 colored vinyl LPs. To paraphrase the Firesign Theatre, if you asked for this record in stores, they’d think you were crazy. But you can find it at Norton Records.

BLOG BONUS: My radio interview with Wheeler and Michael of Figures of Light is below

Sunday, May 05, 2013

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Sex & Money by Iggy & The Stooges
Radioactive Boy by The Meteors
As Long As I Have You by The Detroit Cobras
Rock 'n Roll Murder by The Leaving Trains
Be My Baby by Proto Idiot
Pump by The B-52s
7 and 7 Is by Love
Watch Your Mouth by King Salami & the Cumberland 3
Mas Mas by Joe "King" Carrasco & El Molina

Lonely Avenue by Sam Samudio
23 Hours Too Long by Sonny Boy Wiiliamson & The Yardbirds
Good for Nothing by Hipbone Slim & The Knee-Tremblers
Garbageman by The Cramps
Thelma and Louise by HorrorPops
Demon Seed by Demented Are Go
Station Blues by Dead Man's Tree
Red Rosé Tea by The Marquis Chimps

Saturday, May 04, 2013

* Sam Hard and Heavy by Sam Samudio. His real name is Domingo Samudio, but you probably know him best as Sam the Sham, the voice of "Wooly Bully," "Ju Ju Hand" and (even though it's my least favorite Sam the Sham & The Pharoahs hit), "Little Red Riding Hood." Sam was a Chicano-rock icon, a garage-rock pioneer, who, with The Pharoahs blended a Tex-Mex sensibility with Memphis soul.

Hard and Heavy was Sam's attempt in 1970 to establish himself as a serious solo artist. He was picked up by Atlantic Records, which brought in producer Tom Dowd (who'd just produced major records by The Allman Brothers and Derek & The Dominos) and hired musicians including Duane Allman, Jim Dickinson with his band The Dixie Flyers, The Memphis Horns and even The Sweet Inspirations (Elvis' background singers) for this record.

The result was a horny, soul-soaked, blues-stewed record with Samudio wailing and growling. Shoulda been a hit. It wasn't. And Samudio sank into unjustified obscurity, remembered mostly when his songs popped up on oldies radio.

For those of us who actually bought Sam the Sham albums in the '60s, the musical direction of Sam Hard and Heavy shouldn't be a surprise. Before I actually heard it, I was afraid it woulds be an overstuffed early '70s supergroup fustercluck. It's not.

There's several covers of familiar songs here. -- It's hard to screw up "Lonely Avenue," but even harder to make it sound truly fresh. But Samudio aided by The Sweet Inspirations bring out the hidden joy inside this Doc Pomus classic.

Wisely, Samudio's take on "Key to the Highway" doesn't sound like Derek & The Domino's more familiar version. There's a repetivie grating guitar lick and a cool electric organ bouncing off the rest of the band. I'm not sure who's playing the harmonica, but it works.

The best songs here are the longer jams where sam and band get to stretch out. there's John Lee Hooker's "Goin' Upstairs," performed as a Canned Heat-style boogie. Even better is the urgent, hard-driving "15 Degrees Capricorn Asc." Despite it's goopy hippie mystic title, this is one tough slab of rock 'n' roll. "Come on, push! Come on, work!" Sam commands as the organ, guitar and horns battle it out.

There's a couple of cuts that aren't so "hard and heavy," but are tasty treats. The acoustic cover of Randy Newman's "Let's Burn Down the Corn Field' is soulful and spooky. And the country/conjunto of "Don't Put Me On" is irresistible.

My only complaint here is that a bonus track that appeared on some reissues of Sam Hard and Heavy -- a cover of "Me and Bobby McGee" featuring Duane Allman -- didn't make the eMusic version. Otherwise, this album is a real treasure.

* Cookin' Up a Partyby King Salami & The Cumberland Three. The band's always been called The Cumberland Three, but the album cover clearly shows four guys beside the limboing King Salami. As the late Jonathan Winters might say, "Where's the other two?"

I'll leave that mystery to the numerologists. All that matters is that on this, their second full-length album, the King and his men continue on as one of the best party bands coming out of the British Isles in who knows how long. Admitted devotees of Barrence Whitfield & The Savages, Salami and crew specialize in a frantic, early R&B-infused sound.

Every dang tune here is a moneymaker-shaker. "Monkey Beat" features crazy bongos; "Yosemite Sam" is a spirited tribute to one of the real heroes of the wild west; "Howlin' for My Woman" could wear you out just listening to it.

All those songs are originals. but King Salami does a decent cover of Louis Prima's "She's a Kukamunga."

* Indigo Meadow by The Black Angels. Once again The Black Angels prove that a band can play psychedelic music without sounding campy or even all that retro.
Granted, on its new album, the Austin band certainly employs some sonic tricks from the psychedelic era: lots of reverb, lots of fuzz, some Mideastern/East Indian-sounding guitar licks and melody lines here and there, creepy electric organ — and in a couple of places you’ll hear that electric jug sound pioneered by the Angels’ Texas forebears, The 13th Floor Elevators.

The band’s music is strong enough that it doesn't seem defined by these musical embellishments. ...

* Egyptian Rats by The Paint Fumes. This is a 3-song EP from garage-punk trio from Charlotte, N.C. They were one of my favorite bands I'd never heard of before off the new (free) Slovenly Records sampler. They make The Black Lips sound like The Jefferson Starship.

* "Bluebird"by Leon Russell. Just a song I've loved since it came out in the mid '70s.

Cornbread, Molasses and Sassafras Tea by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Hey Joe by Carl Smith
Mule Skinner Blues by Van Morrison
Candidate for Suicide by Hank 3
Tiny Studded Red Designer Belt by The Dinosaur Truckers
April by The Imperial Rooster
Liquor and Whores by The Misery Jackals
Lilly Belle by The Calamity Cubes

Don't Let It Get You Down by Joe West & The Santa Fe Revue
Deal Gone Down by Wayne Hancock
Auctioneer Lover by Wendy Powers
Don't Put Me On by Sam Samudio
I Can't Give You Anything But Love by Willie Nelson
Jack's Truck Stop and Cafe by Dale Watson
Texas Talking by Shinyribs
Octopus by The Handsome Family

Kangaroo Blues by Cliff Bruner's Texas Wanderers
Late Night Lover by Rachel Brooks
Blue Gums Calling Me Back Home by Roger Knox & The Pine Valley Cosmonauts
Just Suppose by Kris Kristofferson
Don't Leave Me Now by Luther Wright & The Wrongs
We're Gonna Hold On by George Jones & Tammy Wynette
The Long Goodbye by David Bromberg & Los Lobos
Oh Lonesome Me by Anna Fermin
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

Thursday, May 02, 2013

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New MexicanMay 3, 2013

Wilderness, the new album by The Handsome Family, is as mysterious, dark, and utterly alluring as fans of this band — actually an Albuquerque couple named Brett and Rennie Sparks — have come to expect.

The melodies are mostly pretty, sentimental, and frequently sad, with sweet harmonies from Mr. and Mrs. Sparks. Many tunes may remind you of old folk songs or parlor music from some century gone by.

But when you allow the lyrics to sink in, you realize there’s a lot more going on here than sweet nostalgia.

Like their previous album, Honey Moon, which examines the idea and practice of love from a variety of angles, Wilderness is a concept album. Every song is named after a different animal: “Eels,” “Octopus,” “Lizard,” “Owls,” etc.

“The record is all about animals, but it’s not really about animals,” Brett said during a recent interview on my radio show, The Santa Fe Opry on KSFR-FM. “They’re about a lot of things, but I guess animals are the jumping-off point for a lot of themes.”

Rennie, who writes all the lyrics for Handsome Family songs, said, “I was thinking about it like a medieval bestiary, which are factual, but factual about the world as we know it now but not necessarily about the truth of the world.”

Several of the songs deal with humans — including historical figures from the 19th century.

There’s “Flies,’ which starts off about George Armstrong Custer, lying dead at Little Bighorn (“His red scarf tied, his black boots shined/How beautiful he looked to the flies, the happy kingdom of flies”); there’s “Wildebeest,” which deals with the lonesome death of songwriter Stephen Foster (“He smashed his head on the sink in the bitter fever of gin/A wildebeest gone crazy with thirst pulled down as he tried to drink”).

And there’s “Woodpecker,” which is about Mary Sweeney, a Wisconsin schoolmarm notorious for having manic fits and smashing windows. Her story is told in Michael Lesy’s 1973 book Wisconsin Death Trip.

“That was my century. … I would have fit in,” Rennie said about the 1800s. “When the train tracks went through, everything went to heck. To me, people like Stephen Foster or Custer or Mary Sweeney were people who had one foot in the old world and one foot in the new world.”

Brett added, “We’re kind of obsessed with that turn-of-the-century kind of thing. We started this new little project called the Parlour Trio [featuring longtime Handsome colleague David Gutierrez on mandolin] where we’re playing turn-of-the-century parlor music just around Albuquerque for fun. … That was a time when everything in America maybe started becoming less European, in a way. … I think that’s an amazing period in American history and American music history.”

Wilderness also has many songs in which Rennie continues her fascination with insects and other creepy crawling things. Besides “Flies,” there are songs titled “Spider,” “Caterpillars,” and “Glow Worm.” Insects also star on several tunes on Honey Moon, my favorite being “Darling, My Darling,” told from the perspective of a lusty male insect willing to sacrifice his life to the waiting fangs of the female of the species.

One of my favorite images on the new album is the last verse of “Flies,” which takes place in some trashy vacant lot near a Wal-Mart: “Great armies of the smallest ants fight battles for the glory of their queen/Such a tiny, glorious queen.”

Behold the Sphinx Moth Larva

Asked about this apparent bug fixation, Rennie laughed. “You live in New Mexico. My God, we have some amazing insects here. … Two summers ago, we saw our first sphinx moth larva out in the yard. Once you’ve seen that, trying to wiggle their way down …” Brett interjected, “It looked like a little hot dog was crawling across the yard.”

“They look like caterpillars when they’re first born, but when they get ready to pupate, they drop all their legs off, and they look like a finger. A little finger rising from the ground,” Rennie said.

“When I first saw this thing, and I’m from New Mexico, I was like, it was one of those things where you say, Oh, my brain doesn’t want to do this — what am I seeing?” Brett said.

Asked about the battling ant army imagery in “Flies,” Rennie said, “I’ve watched great battles out in my driveway. There’s two competing ant holes.”

Brett reminded her of the time, not long after the couple first moved to Albuquerque, that Rennie, a New York native, learned the hard way that “I got ants in my pants” isn’t just a James Brown song.

“Honestly, I feel like I was a different person after I was bitten by those ants. There was a point in the middle, when I was just writhing in pain, that I could feel the queen calling me down in the earth. And I wanted nothing but to do her bidding.”

There is a CD release party for Wilderness at 9 p.m. on Saturday, May 4, at Low Spirits, 2823 Second St. N.W., Albuquerque, 505-344-9555. Tickets are $11. BLOG BONUSHere's the Santa Fe Opry segment where I interviewed Brett & Rennie. I used a lot of quotes from it in the above column -- but there's lots more that I didn't write about.

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